


Ōnoki's Rock

by TaintofTaia



Category: Naruto
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Child Naruto - Freeform, Gen, One Shot, Pre-Canon, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-23
Updated: 2020-01-23
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:47:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,392
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22368169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TaintofTaia/pseuds/TaintofTaia
Summary: Later, Naruto would stare at the rock and contemplate everything it meant.  And why him?  That's later.  This is where it's the start of a new path for him, and it's the end for others.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 33





	Ōnoki's Rock

**Author's Note:**

> Oh, look, I don't own any part of the Naruto series and make no profits.
> 
> I am relatively new to this fandom (just under a year). My knowledge is through the anime, only part of the manga, and whatever I can dig up on the internet, so though I tried to get stuff right, I make no guarantees. Oh, and I definitely screwed with canon at the end. I think the setup scene I used is from filler, if that matters to anyone.
> 
> Warning: If you dislike ambiguous endings, turn away now!
> 
> Otherwise, I hope you enjoy.

Ōnoki stared at Konoha, the gates in front of him large and open, the ostentatious carved faces of all their kage over the village.

His presence could provoke war. Konoha didn’t know he was coming. He traveled with his granddaughter, Kurotsuchi. Even so, she only knew part of what he wanted to accomplish here. That was partly because he’d still been deciding if more than one rock needed to be thrown.

They arrived to do one thing—one small, seemingly insignificant, thing. They were here to toss a rock into the water. Ōnoki did not trust anyone else with the task.

For once, Ōnoki relied on a cane. He dressed as a civilian and so did Kurotsuchi. Everything they wore and all they brought with them came from Fire Country. They styled their hair differently. And they relied on something else, human fallibility. They weren’t expecting him to walk through the front gates, so they wouldn’t be looking at an old man and think _Tsuchikage_. A kage wouldn’t arrive so humbly. A kage would arrive with either pomp and circumstance or with an army behind them. 

They spun their civilian story at the gate. They were traveling, but Ōnoki, under a pseudonym, was old and needed rest for a few days before continuing south. They were looking for a safe place with a warm bed. They were deemed harmless and granted entrance.

Konoha trusted too easily. Ninja should never be fooled by appearance. They hadn’t even checked for henge. Or had they?

Ōnoki looked back at the gate. Every village had their secrets on how they protected their village. Perhaps Konoha protected her gates more subtly than he gave credit for.

“How do you want to go about finding him?” his Kuro asked.

“As hapless civilians exploring. And should that fail, follow the ramen.”

“He does love his ramen,” she grinned. The more famous Naruto got, the more famous his love of ramen got. 

They found a hotel for the night, though only after Ōnoki found the bathhouse and went for a soak. His old bones could only take so much abuse.

“I can find him on my own.”

“Nonsense,” Ōnoki rebuked.

Kuro opened her mouth to say something, but had the decency to hold her tongue this time.

Besides, he knew what she thought—that he was too old and should leave everything to the younger generation. Hah! She still had to learn. A kage led their village. They didn’t have the luxury of leading from behind. And there were some tasks that a kage had to do themselves.

To be fair to her, though, that was probably why she pushed for him to retire rather than take a back seat. He’d never admit it to her, though.

She really would have made a fine kage. Too bad she would never have the chance.

҉ Ѻ ҉ Ѻ ҉

The next morning, they wandered through the market district, keeping an eye out for their elusive target.

They heard a ruckus and pushed forward, to finally find Naruto. A shop owner was yelling at him, holding a mask above his head.

Kuro reacted before she thought and, quicker than a civilian would ever move, put herself between the shop owner and Naruto, just in time to catch the mask hurled at the boy.

Ōnoki hurried over to Naruto, holding his hand out to the child, who looked up at him, to his hand, and to him again. Both paid no attention as Kuro launched on a tirade.

“How dare you shove a child down and have the gall to throw things at him. Have you no honor?”

The shopkeeper turned red-faced. “Do you have any idea who he—”

“Do you?” She cut off, deadly. “Because I’ll tell you. He is an eight-year-old little boy. I thought Konoha was founded on the principle of protecting their children. Apparently not, because not only are you assaulting one, you’ve gathered other like-minded adults to point and sneer at this _child_. So it’s not just you who has no honor, but the whole of Konoha! Or it wouldn’t be a visitor stopping you, but one of your own. Konoha, a village with no honor. Konoha, a village who gleefully abuses children!”

Murmurs all around her and more than one angry face. She didn’t care. She simply stared down the shop owner, who spluttered and turned even more red in the face, still angry.

But she knew where and when to use the right weapon. This man could be cut down with words. Only time would tell if he would take those words to heart.

So she did the next thing to deliver a blow. A ninja would understand exactly what she was doing. A civilian wouldn’t, not completely, but would still feel impact.

She turned her back on him.

Naruto stayed in a bit of shock. Most shop owners weren’t kind to him, but most didn’t deny him service. And those who did, almost never decided to so publicly deny him service by humiliating him.

But then, this woman stepped between him and the shop owner. No one had ever, _ever_ , defended him before.

Then, an old man, short with a big nose, held out his hand to him, Naruto. It took several moments before he finally reached up to take that hand. A tense moment waiting for the other shoe to drop. But aside from the man steadying himself on his cane, the man simply smiled and started brushing the dirt off Naruto’s clothes.

Then the woman turned to look at him. The shop owner’s tongue seemed to catch up with him and shouted at her to not turn her back on him, but she acted like there was no one behind her, no one screaming vulgarities after they found their tongue again. She just smiled at him like she knew him and like she was saying _Can you believe this guy?_

“Why don’t we get you out of here?” Then she placed her hand gently on his back, and, with the old man on his other side, guided him out from the crowds and away from the man who had sought to humiliate him.

As they headed in no specific direction, Ōnoki saw an empty park and motioned to it. Kuro understood. Take Naruto somewhere empty, but public and well in the center of Konoha. Let no one think they, strangers, were coaxing Konoha’s jiinchuriki outside Konoha or that they were trying to make off with him to harm him. Also, the sooner they started talking, the less would be overheard—not that they would allow any prying ears to hear anything but what they allowed them to hear.

“Do you want to swing?” Ōnoki asked Naruto. He walked toward the swings without getting an answer, but Naruto trotted after him anyway.

Kuro settled onto the swing next to Naruto’s, and—

“I dare say you decided to throw a rather interesting rock, granddaughter.”

“Hmph.”

“Huh? I didn’t see her throw any rock,” Naruto commented as he experienced for the first time in his memory someone pushing him on the swing.

“It’s a metaphor,” she said. “Do you know what those are?”

Naruto shook his head.

“Have you ever thrown a rock into a pond?” Ōnoki asked.

“Sure.”

“What did the rock do to the water?”

“Umm, it made rings of water.”

“Ripples, yes. And the ripples kept growing, right?”

“Right.”

Ōnoki kept pushing the swing. “Well, when I said Kuro threw a rock, what I meant was that when she decided to throw herself between you and that man, that decision is going to make some interesting ripples.”

“What sort of ripples?”

“Well, Kuro basically called Konoha spineless with a bunch of honor-less cowards, and—”

“Konoha’s not spineless!” Naruto refuted.

“That shop owner was,” Kuro stated. “And so is anyone who could witness what he did to you and not step in.”

Naruto fell silent.

“The ripple she caused may stop Konoha from being so cowardly. Or it may do very little at all.”

“Or it could make them madder at me,” he muttered.

“Sure. Some people,” Kuro conceded. “But some, when their honor is put into question, actually take steps to restore their honor. That means, they may see the error in what they are doing.”

“You guys aren’t from Konoha, are you. Who are you, anyway?”

“Just two travelers.”

Naruto looked at them skeptically. “But what’re your names? I mean, you called her Kuro, right?”

“Yes, short for Kurotsuchi.” Her grandfather gave her a look for telling Naruto her name, but she just ignored it. “You can call him Grandfather.”

“Ōnoki. He can call me Ōnoki.”

“Call him Grandfather, if only to irritate him.”

“Ōnoki and Kurotsuchi,” Naruto repeated.

“More ripples,” Ōnoki grumbled.

“Just do us a favor. If you ever talk about us, don’t mention our names. We have the strange coincidence of sharing the Tsuchikage and his granddaughter’s names. Of course, we are far older than them. Our names came first. But it wouldn’t do to panic anyone by thinking we’re actually them.”

Ōnoki rolled his eyes. Might as well start throwing a quarry full of rocks soon, if Kuro kept up this way.

Ōnoki stopped pushing Naruto’s swing, confusing Naruto some, and looked around and found the perfect rock for what he wanted. Then he pulled out a kunai.

“I’m going to give you something, Naruto, something very precious.” He started carving the rock. “Do you know what is more precious than money or gems?”

Naruto shook his head and started swinging himself lightly.

“Friendship. And more precious than that is friendship between former enemies. You see, those you like and those who are family are easy to love and be friends with. What is much, much more difficult to achieve, and thus so much more precious, is becoming friends with an enemy.” He kept carving.

Naruto stopped his swing, dragging his feet. “I don’t have any friends.”

“Sure you do. They just don’t know it yet.” Ōnoki stopped carving, blew the dust from the cracks, and held it up to the sun, inspecting the carving on both sides of the smooth and near flat rock. He then pressed his chakra into the rock and, more for frivolity than anything, made it run through the carved lines rather than the whole rock. It smoothed the rough cut lines.

He then held it out to Naruto, who took it and studied it.

“Cool.”

“Yes, it is. But more than that, with this rock, you can make ripples throughout all the elemental nations.”

“Huh? Am I supposed to throw it or somethin’?”

“You hand it to someone.”

“And that’ll make ripples,” Naruto concluded, unsure.

“A hell of a lot of ripples!” Kuro grinned.

“Who do I hand it to? And what’ll it do?”

“You hand it to the Tsuchikage.”

“Huh?!”

“Remember, I said the thing more precious than money or gems or being friends with those you like—it’s to become friends with an enemy. And you, Naruto, I think you’ll be a good friend for that old Fence-Sitter.”

“The Third Tsuchikage’s nickname,” Kuro filled in, leaning over to fill Naruto in conspiratorially.

“I can’t be friends with a kage! No one in Konoha wants to be my friend! Why would he?! Even Jiji isn’t my friend.”

“Oh, he won’t!” Ōnoki chortled. “Imagine him wanting to be friends with the Yellow Flash’s son!” He knew he was laughing at who he used to be, but he’d grown and matured in his old age, enough that he could laugh at such things. “But he will, because that rock is special.”

Silence. Then, quietly, “Who’s the Yellow Flash?”

“You’ve never heard your father’s old nickname?” Ōnoki asked. He would have thought the Fourth Hokage’s exploits and nicknames would have been heard all throughout Konoha, especially by his son. But Ōnoki realized something was wrong by how still Naruto grew.

“My father?”

Ōnoki understood, then. He’d just thrown in another rock, creating more ripples. Ōnoki never imagined Naruto had been denied his parentage. He couldn’t go back now and pretend he’d said nothing. The boy could resent him withholding the information and take in nothing more of what Ōnoki needed him to. 

Thinking as a kage, he realized the safety Naruto had in remaining oblivious to his heritage. He recognized that this knowledge could have put Naruto in the line of sight of many Iwa ninja, who hated Namikaze.

“If no one has told you before, than it was for a very good reason that I hope you will understand shortly. The Yellow Flash’s name was Minato Namikaze and he is hailed as a hero in Konoha, but a villain in Iwa.”

Naruto lipped _Minato Namikaze_ several times, obviously trying to memorize the name.

“Villains, you see, as well as heroes, have enemies. In the Third Ninja War, Namikaze made many enemies in Iwa. These enemies, you see, may seek vengeance on Namikaze through his son. You. That puts you in a lot of danger if _anyone_ learns who your father was. For your own safety, you should not _ever_ reveal you know who your father is, not unless you trust that person.”

He and Kuro could see Naruto wasn’t taking it all in, only the things about his father, the little they gave. Ōnoki decided to repeat the warning later.

“Thank you!” Naruto abruptly said, before tackling Ōnoki in a hug.

Ōnoki remained steady, still a ninja despite his aching back and age. He pet Naruto’s head while Naruto held tightly. He decided to give the boy just a little more. No one should be denied their heritage. “I don’t know much more about him, though I know this. He became the Fourth Hokage.”

Naruto froze and Ōnoki kept petting.

After some time, the boy finally relaxed and pulled away from Ōnoki.

They didn’t have much time anymore. Kuro knew no one was watching now, but that would change at any moment. She got up from her swing and knelt in front of Naruto. She took his hands in hers and pressed his hands around the rock he still held.

“Now you might understand. This rock has the power to make a friend from your father’s enemy.”

“I—I don’t understand. Why do I need to make him a friend?”

It was a lot for an eight-year-old and they couldn’t explain much more, not without either confusing Naruto more or endangering the future. They were here to throw a rock and had no way to guide the ripples.

Eventually, should Naruto succeed in making a friend out of the Third Tsuchikage, the Third could explain parts of the puzzle.

“Everyone needs friends, but sometimes, especially kage, need that precious sort of friend. Don’t go rushing off to meet him, though. Let the opportunity come to you. All you would do by rushing off is get yourself killed.”

Kuro changed the subject abruptly. Two ninja were approaching. Ōnoki nodded that he realized it, too.

“Are you okay now after that shop owner?”

The approaching ninjas stopped and observed, but she and her grandfather slipped into playing the civilian foreigners concerned about a mistreated child well. And they could, because their concern didn’t have to be faked, even if them checking in with Naruto about it had been delayed by more pressing matters.

Naruto brushed off their concern, unused to concern and used to the village. He turned around asking them questions, which they either point blank lied to or toed the truth but remained vague.

“Hey, can you tell me more about—”

“The Yellow Flash?” Ōnoki cut off before the watching ninja could know Naruto learned his parentage. Naruto nodded. “I don’t really know more.”

“You said he was a hero and a villain. Why?”

“It was war. The man’s actions helped to save Konoha.” Never was he more aware of Konoha ninja around them and struggled to find words that would not put them on a more defensive stance. “People die in war. And when a person dies, they leave behind loved ones.”

“But what did he _do_?”

Ōnoki took in a breath. It had been his men that lost their lives that day, under his command.

Kuro cut in, more removed from it than her grandfather. “He killed one thousand Iwa ninja in one battle.”

“Konoha is so proud of that,” Ōnoki bitterly muttered.

“Why would Konoha be proud of killing? Did he really? I—” He fell silent, distressed at what he heard.

Ōnoki took in a deep sigh, struggling to remember his failure, what led to it. “The thousand were all headed to Konoha, to destroy this village. When Namikaze killed them, he saved thousands of lives in Konoha.” It would have been cruel to not say as much, cruel to allow Naruto to not only think that Konoha celebrated death (though he was sure some did) but that his father participated in such a thing. Better for Naruto to see both hero and villain in his father than just villain.

This left him with an opening, though, that he’d been seeking. “The families left behind of the thousand, given half a chance, will take revenge, just to hurt Namikaze, even if he’s dead now. No Konoha ninja should ever risk reminding Iwa of the Yellow Flash or what he did that day.” He saw the light go on in Naruto where it hadn’t with the earlier warning. _Don’t tell anyone you are his son._ Now he had a different opening he’d been looking for. 

“A wise man, a boy to be truthful, once taught me a most interesting lesson. One kills in the ninja world, and so those left behind will be left with hate and seek their own revenge. And the ones left behind will kill someone in their revenge and the cycle of revenge will start all over. It’s a cruel cycle to live in, the ninja world.”

“That’s wrong,” Naruto muttered.

“I agree.” Then he leaned close and whispered, “Why do you think I gave you that secret weapon.” Then he spoke normally again. “If a rock is thrown in revenge, the ripples it causes will be as cruel as the revenge. But a rock given in friendship—what sort of ripples will that cause?”

“Good ones?” Naruto hazardly questioned.

“You got it.”

Naruto looked at the carved rock in his hand and nodded to the unspoken question of whether Naruto would extend the rock to the Tsuchikage.

“Good boy. Now, I wish we could stay, but we need to get going and we’ve kept you longer than we should. You go to the Academy, don’t you?”

Naruto grumbled something they couldn’t catch and nodded.

“Study hard, then. Become the sort of ninja that you would be proud of. Ninja who take that hard path are few and far between.”

“When will I see you again?”

Kuro knelt down. “I’m afraid we only stopped for a few days rest. We need to get back on the road.” She opened her arms and Naruto threw himself into the hug. She whispered, “Next time you meet a _Kurotsuchi_ will probably be the Tsuchikage’s granddaughter. Be her friend, alright? Someday, I bet you’ll each be kage of your villages.”

“You take care of yourself, Naruto.” Ōnoki ruffled the blond hair.

“You too, Grandfather,” Naruto mumbled, using the name Kuro told him to use.

҉ Ѻ ҉ Ѻ ҉

“Do you think it will be enough? We should just have warned someone of what’s happened in our time.”

“You might as well be throwing a boulder into a puddle if you do that.”

“And a couple hours with Naruto when he’s eight, and giving him a rock, is going to save the future?”

Ōnoki nodded. “The me of this time will never extend a hand of friendship. One must be extended to him, and without politics muddying the waters. Only Naruto would not only be willing but can achieve that.”

“It will be _years_ before Naruto meets the other you!”

“Not if we make one last stop.”

“We don’t have time.”

“We do. It’s here in Konoha. I didn’t pick our hotel by chance, but because of who will know the signal at this specific spot.”

A spy, Kuro concluded. Her grandfather had a spy stationed in Konoha.

But she was wrong, she gaped. “Mother.”

“Kurotsuchi,” the woman whispered. “You’re so grown up. Too grown up.”

“Time travel will do that to a person,” Ōnoki said as he settled on a seat in the hotel lounge, civilians mingling but none aware of their surroundings enough to notice the important meeting.

Kuro looked sharply at him, but the ninja that spied on their meeting with Naruto were long gone.

Her mother sat down, cautiously. “Why are you coming to me?”

“We were already in Konoha and don’t have time to make it to Iwa.”

Kuro continued to stare. She had a picture, only one, that she used to memorize her mother’s face. She never met the woman who fell in love with the enemy and walked away from her own flesh and blood.

“Do they know you’re from Iwa?” Kuro blurted. She always wondered. One among many things she wondered about.

“No.”

Her mother met the mysterious Konoha man on a spy mission, before Kuro was born and only returned to Iwa to give birth and hand her off to her father. It always left her wondering, and she never dared ask her father. “Is my father really my father?”

Ōnoki looked sharply at her, surprised but rebuking. She didn’t care.

“Yes. He’s your father.”

Relief swelled and the invisible weight she carried for years lifted.

“That’s not what you came here to talk about.”

“No, it’s not.”

“I don’t have all day. Neither do you.”

“You know far too much about this,” he said, referring to her knowledge on how they time traveled.

“I should. I helped create the method you used to come here. Why are you here?”

“We’ve created a ripple, here in Konoha.”

“If it’s to harm this village—”

“It’s not,” Ōnoki cut off. “It’s to save all the villages.”

“Explain. Now.”

“You know we can’t. As a matter of fact, you were the one who hypothesized that revealing too much of the future, even if the grandfather effect was not an issue, could cause more repercussion than the initial issue one might try to prevent. Or did I get that wrong.” He knew he didn’t.

“You’re not wrong. What was your ripple, then?”

“I gave a boy a rock.”

“Without metaphor.”

“It’s a literal rock, given to a real boy. I picked it up off the ground, here in Konoha.”

“You—” She stopped. The kage wasn’t going to tell her anything more. She only lived by his mercy, not because he trusted her. She only lived because his son begging him to not put her to death.

“We need a second ripple, to either come from Iwa or lead Iwa here. Choose the option that will allow you to accomplish this.”

“With what goal?”

“Get the me of this time to come to Konoha.”

“That’s it? Here I thought it was going to be difficult.” Sarcasm dripped. “And what does he need to do here?”

“Accept the rock that I gave to the boy to give to him.”

“Wouldn’t it have been easier to give me the message to pass along?”

“I am not passing along a message. Not in the way you think. Only that boy can accomplish this. And as for what he’s passing on, it’s far more valuable than wealth or _Intel_ , as you seem to think. Can you get him here? Or have you turned into a plebeian housewife?”

“Don’t insult me and ask for my help in the same breath. Yes. I could do it. He won’t get here tomorrow or the next month. A year, at least.”

“As long as it happens. And as long as it happens before you hear talk of war.”

“Who is this boy who could have so much power over you it could stop a war?”

“I didn’t say anything about stopping a war.”

“You implied it. A war between Konoha and Iwa, then. Or are all the villages involved?”

“Konoha and Iwa are allies _and_ should remain as such,” he snarked. “Now stop digging. The future is hell. You’re not going to learn anything that risks making it worse.”

“Alright. But know I’ll hunt anyone down who puts my family in danger. That includes you.”

Kuro, who’d remained silent after her initial questions, shot up at that. Bitterly, “ _We_ were supposed to be your family.”

The woman’s gaze drifted to her daughter and had the sense to neither refute nor acknowledge the statement. Finally, “I should get going. I’ll see what avenues can be taken for your request.”

“Yoshino,” Ōnoki said. The woman turned. “If you do not do so, and the boy cannot give that rock, shall I tell you the fate of your son? The tales of his death were quite gruesome. I cannot imagine its reality. It would be awful to know that should you fail, he could succumb to the same fate again. Would you like to know?”

“No,” she said stiffly, and left.

҉ Ѻ ҉ Ѻ ҉

“She has a son. I have a brother.”

“Yes. You’ve met him. Shikamaru Nara.”

Did this new information even matter? She and her grandfather would soon fade from this time. What use did the knowledge give but grief?

“Do you think we did enough? Can a friendship really change that much?”

“You know me. And you know the me that is in this time. If a boy comes to me with a rock holding my chakra, claiming to have met me, or at least shares both resemblance and name with me, and says we should be friends, what would I do?”

“Will your chakra even remain in the rock when we fade from here?”

“If it doesn’t, the rest should still be enough to provoke something. Now, answer the question.”

“Suspicion. And then you would look into every avenue of Naruto’s life.”

“And then what?”

“Oh!—”

Ōnoki smiled sorrowfully as she both understood and faded away all at once. 

Barely a moment later, he, too, faded away.

҉ Ѻ ҉ Ѻ ҉

**Author's Note:**

> I contemplated not posting this. It's such an open ended One-Shot. It's also similar general plot idea (mostly in the fact that, oh, look, time travel fixit! and ambiguous end) to my other fanfic on this site, albeit a different fandom.  
> This is the first Naruto fanfic I'm posting. Scary enough, I have about nine more Naruto stories that I'm writing, including one that is a potential continuation of this. Please don't get your hopes up about a continuation, though, because it currently is only outline and has no real plot after what would essentially be 'Act 1' of 3 to 5 acts, which means I may stall and not finish it (it happens to me). But maybe no one cares about that!


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